Ukraine pro-Western activists to demand reforms in protest today

Ukraine’s leading pro-Western reform activists have planned
for today one of their largest rallies since the start of the war in Donbas.
Thousands of activists are expected in Kyiv’s center to demand the creation of
independent anti-corruption courts, to eliminate political immunity from MPs
and to approve a new election law that will allow for open-list voting and
eliminate single-mandate districts. Among the rally’s leaders are Mikheil
Saakashvili (who broke through the Ukrainian border in September after being
evicted), MP Serhiy Leshchenko and MP Mustafa Nayem. Simultaneous rallies are
planned for regional centers throughout the country.

In response to the rally, the Poroshenko
Administration has taken unusual measures to provide security, closing many
central streets to traffic and surrounding key government buildings with fences
and National Guardsmen. An administration spokesman insisted the measures were
not extraordinary for the visit of a head state, which will be the Maltese
president today.

Zenon Zawada: If Ukraine
is to experience a breakthrough in its political and economic development, it
has to create a pro-Western, reforms-oriented majority in parliament that
actively opposes Poroshenko. Better yet, Ukrainians would have to prevent
Poroshenko from being re-elected in 2019. Otherwise, the country’s stagnation
will continue for another five years.

As this protest’s leaders understand, the key to
challenging Poroshenko is creating proportional voting based on open lists and
eliminating single-mandate districts. It’s these single-mandate MPs who trade
their votes to the president in exchange for political favors, enabling
Poroshenko to get the majorities he needs on any legislative item. Naturally,
Poroshenko will oppose any reform to this system.